One of the first things everyone learns when starting their Intense Health journey, is that NO HUMAN is perfect with nutrition! Whilst no human is perfect, there is always a perfect strategy for each human.
Recently, my wife Andreia and myself had a trip to America for relaxation and business. We develop strategies for all our clients to earn the FUN while travelling and still be on track, controlling your physiology by knowing exactly what is happening and how to be in control!
“When we know better, we do better”…
Here are our tips:
Tip 1
We both ramp up the frequency of training sessions prior and after the travelling, to compensate the lack of the stimulus while away. This way your body will get the most out of the extra recovery time and re-building (Anabolic state ).
Rest periods can be a very useful element of progress, in terms of increasing strength and muscle mass. The timing and dosage of exercise must be quantified and data must be analysed, so you can get the most out of these experiences! (Intense Health Clinics got you covered!)
It normally takes 7-14 days before the body starts to de-compensate muscle mass and lose conditioning. It is just a physiological fact! Over the last 2 decades of training clients the best solutions for keeping the results they earned, is to train hard before and after travelling!
This strategy no only worked for my own progress, but for all Intense Health clients.
Tip 2
We utilise strategies of intermittent fasting, which can free you from the ‘should I eat or not eat’ mentality whilst away. Remember while away, you want to have FUN and enjoy the most out of your time off. Here some intermittent fasting cheat codes we like to use:
- For coffee drinkers, start your day with a triple shot Americano or a Long Black. Me and Andreia love to find a great coffee shop and spend time working on business brainstorming, or planning the day ahead while enjoying a great coffee!
- Normally while away you will be sight seeing, performing activities or simply relaxing at the beach. Whatever you decide to do by not having food to digest, you will have the energy necessary to enjoy these activities to the max!
- We would recommend to try to go as far as you can (minimum being 16/8 window, 16 hours fasting followed by 8 hours feeding window) without eating, but if your feel hungry, don’t let the hunger affect your mood and holiday. Eat something low in carbohydrates and high in protein like a protein bar or nuts, so you can get going and after 2 pm enjoy the meals you are looking for!
- Ideally, we will recommend real foods as a primary choice but again, no-one is perfect. You might be missing that burger or pizza, but this way in terms of calories in and calories out, you won’t be compromising your metabolism. Remember this is a controlled way of having the fun with food while away, but it is NOT a recommendation for day to day lifestyle choices.
Tip 3
Measuring and tracking how your body responded to the last two strategies is very important to refine and improve for the next trip! At Intense Health, we will measure and track using the Fit3D scanner and Calliper test before and after travelling to completely understand how your body responded and introduce the necessary adjustments.
Knowing how your body behaves is having the power not feel guilty or feel that you are compromising all your previous effort in getting where you are. It is a liberating feeling having total control of your health and physicality, and we at Intense Health have a blast helping individuals gain knowledge and use smart strategies proven to work based on decades of experience and science based human physiology. Holidays and trips are made so you can relax, reset and re energise, but how awesome is it to have all that, and still come back strong and fit.
For all our clients we do appreciate the opportunity to serve you and we do believe our mission is to improve your health and physicality but taking in consideration your lifestyle and allowing fun in the process is important.
If you are not an Intense Health client, apply now for a free trial in one of our five locations in Perth!
Be Intense!
Marcelo Mesquita / Founder – Director of Intense Health Clinics.
